Here in NC Duke stated that they would be refunding a prorated amount of the student fees, meal plan and housing costs to students. No refund for tuition since online classes will still be happening. I expect UNC will do the same .
My son is at a state school, off campus, so technically he can stay there. They also aren’t closing the dorms - right now it’s just a 2 weeks spring break to prepare classes to go online. By the end of March they’ll make the call. I’m sure it’s a tactic to avoid having to give refunds, but as of now kids can stay in the dorms and the food will be available that decide to stay or have to stay. That may change by March 27.
We’re paying rent either way. My guess is my son will want to go back to his apartment even if classes are all online!
I see online classes for instruction as a temporary situation that will play it self out in the coming months. If your student is already in college you are pretty much locked in to that college for the full 4 years.
If you have a rising freshman, like I do, next fall you would hope that things will have settled down and the colleges will have had 6 months to find better solutions in case another virus situation comes up. I don’t see these world-class institutions of higher learning giving up the residential college experience and in-person class instruction anytime soon (ex Duke spending $100 million on a new engineering building). They have the resources to weather this storm.
There is a saying “this too shall pass”.
Is it ever worth that premium? A question many do ask , especially if they feel that payment hit.
Spot on, @inthegarden. I wouldn’t pay $75k+ for an online college, but that’s not the type of college my D attends. These are extraordinary times, not the new normal.
Life in our town can get pretty stale with the same friends from preschool through high school and my D needed a fresh perspective. Sure, she could have attended the state flagship along with half of her graduating class, but that is not what we wanted for her. Her college is a great fit, socially and academically. She loves the history, tradition, and all the other aspects that comprise the “college experience.” It’s our money and we’re content with our choice.
Not really for current frosh and soph students, although soph students may be a bit late for transfer applications to some other colleges (and may have to take a gap semester or year in some cases if they really want to transfer to a college whose transfer application deadline has passed). Current junior students are mostly locked in because there are limited transfer options for those who would come in as seniors expecting to graduate in just one more year. Current senior students obviously are locked in since they are so close to graduation.
Reminds me of decades ago when U of Wisconsin had to literally close down due to antiwar protests. I was still in HS so missed the lack of classes, finals et al. Going online is different than closing or shutting down a school. The campus may be limited but not finishing a semester when you have done so much seems more difficult. Who would want to have to repeat the course???
Think back a century as well. A lot of healthy men in the military died from influenza with the 1918 epidemic. Or think of the prevaccine polio scares. Things could be a whole lot worse.
So many of the things all of you are mentioning have become a HUGE topic of conversation in our home.
Yesterday, our high school senior and I toured our local state university, which is a short 20 minutes away from our home. We didn’t know while on our campus tour, but it wound up being the last one offered due to that university implementing Covid-19 precautions. D20 had planned on going away for college to experience a different part of the country, but now she wonders if Fall 2020 will become a remote learning semester. If that’s the case, why pay the extra money to “attend” a far away school.
Meanwhile, we have a college student, who NEEDS the face-to-face interaction with professors, teaching assistants, and fellow classmates. I worry, tremendously, that she will lose her scholarship because of the abrupt change to remote learning. And, yes, like many have mentioned . . . What about the labs? And the group projects?
Our college student hasn’t been officially “kicked out” of her dorm, but we expect it to occur. I am not expecting a tuition reduction, since the professors still need to be paid, but I sure hope the large state school will give us a pro-rated refund on the meal plan and the expensive residence hall. She is also one of those students who will no longer have an income, since she works for the university. Luckily, that is just her spending money, but there are other students who depend on that paycheck to help cover college costs.
@TwoHighSchoolers
Exactly the info I was looking for when I started the thread. Big money for remote learning. Housing and meal payments prepaid. Loss of on campus jobs, etc…
It has to make people re-think the big picture.
Thanks for sharing, good luck.
@BmacNJ We are a full pay family at Bowdoin. We are getting a refund for room and board for the last seven weeks of the semester. Online class is temporary for this semester and the kids will get their classes completed as to not disrupt them graduating on time. I expect class will be a bit less interactive than if he were there but I know all of his professors have reached out already and have a lot of good ideas about how to make the best of this. Fingers crossed it will be back to usual class in the fall.
I don’t think anyone, FP or FA, private or public, is getting the experience they thought they were signing up for for the half semester that is now happening remotely and online. Some schools are refunding room and board but overall, it’s probably fair to say that you are getting less value for the remainder of the semester than you have gotten up to this point and will get again when it’s over.
With that said, my very disappointed DS, a senior at a LAC, knows his profs and the other students in his seminars at the least from the first part of the semester and in most cases for several years, so I expect that this will not be an anonymous online exercise in consuming content but a continuation of a participatory and personal learning experience. Definitely different than in person and almost certainly less rich, but the foundation is there for it to still be good.
It will represent 1/16 of his college years. Unfortunately, the last 1/16, which they are all smart enough to know to savor and cherish, not so much for the classes but for the time living in a community of friends living similar lives. And for the chance to end that time with a certain closure in order to "preserve " it. Hopefully, they will be able to come back together for commencement but maybe not. Frantically packing up on short notice, without the time to say goodbye and not knowing if this really is goodbye is tough. But how can anyone really be compensated for that?
Boston College is rebating the prorated room and board in full.
Interesting to note, some friends at work wondered if schools will utilize some portion of online education to reduce costs potentially for some families and or offer more seats.
Three years on campus and one online type thing and it’s rotational.
Also lots of complaints on the UF board about the business school offering some of the huge intro classes online. I bet they are better prepared for this than other schools.